Looking at media policy through a Canadian lens throughout this week's lectures helped me develop my own interpretation and thoughts regarding Canadian national policy. The Aird Commission in 1929 produced a report with recommendations to put more Canadian content on air to protect Canadian identity and help foster a sense of unity (Thrift, 2023). This is a value that is still heavily focused on today. Calls to protect Canadian produced content seem to be a recurring trend, which I was able to connect when learning about the Massey-Levesque Commission from 1949-1951. Its function was to find ways to protect the Canadian cultural arts sector and urge the federal government for funding for the arts. However, a downside to federal funding for the arts is that in times of recession, it can be hard to justify that amount of taxpayer dollars to be poured into funding for the arts when it should go into other areas like social spending (Thrift, 2023). Lastly, the Applebaum-Hebert Commission in 1981 and 1982 looked for potential ways to reduce cultural spending. Its findings indicated that a balance between government and private funding would be useful in reducing costs for the federal government while still keeping the arts sector alive (Thrift, 2023). 

References: 

Thrift, S. (November, 2023). Week 10 - Media Policy (Mon PPT) [Lecture].

Thrift, S. (November, 2023). Week 10 - Media Policy (Wed PPT) [Lecture].

A second way that media and communication proved to be of key importance in the development of Canada into what as we know it today was the invention of radio. R.B. Bennett created the Broadcasting Act in 1932 for a myriad of reasons, but I found that they all related back to the idea of being Canadian and once again fostering national unity (Thrift, 2023). If there was a concrete way in which content was allowed to be produced and broadcast, then everything was able to be regulated to contribute to the sense of national unity and a sense of “being Canadian.” The interest in protecting Canadian identity on air was in response to how much content was being created by Canada’s neighbor, The United States. I found it interesting to realize that this is something that is still ongoing today, however it is now related more to the film and television sector. Even if Canada implements policies and gives funding for Canadian TV, it is still not enough to compete with American programming.  

References: 

Thrift, S. (September, 2023). Week 2 - A Brief History of Media [Lecture].

The first meaning that can be taken from the ad is exactly what it says: believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. This can be taken at face value as a general philosophy to live your life, that hope and belief should be guiding reasons for you to do what you do with your life. This statement can also be interpreted as Nike showing their support for a cause, which is very rare for a company that large to do, especially with a situation that became so politically charged. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything” is now a way to show that Nike supports Kaepernick’s decision to kneel and decide to continue their contract with him and show that they stand with his decision to protest racial injustice, and that more people should stand with him as well. 

The second theory I found most aligned with my own opinions and values is cultivation theory. The main premise of cultivation theory is that media (originally just television) gradually develops a view of social reality that is not accurate, but viewers still assume that it reflects real life (Thrift, 2023). I believe this to be the case not only for film and television, but now also includes social media. In fact, I think cultivation theory is even more prevalent in the social media world because the content the audience interacts with is often from people that they know. Since people tend to only post highlights of their social media accounts, only the good parts of life are represented. This will cause the user to feel like their life is not good because it does not look like another person’s, a lot of times failing to realize that social media is almost exclusively curated content. When I was younger and was beginning to use social media, I felt the same way for years until I was able to realize that almost everything is fake.     

References:
Thrift, S. (September, 2023). Week 4 - Audience Studies Pt 1 [Lecture]

References:
Rosenberg, A. (2015, January 13). How ‘Harry Potter’ fans won a four-year fight against child slavery. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/01/13/how-harry-potter-fans-won-a-four-year-fight-against-child-slavery/ 
Thrift, S. (October, 2023). Week 5 - Fans, participatory culture, and activism [Lecture] 

I believe that my above examples highlight that we do live in a panoptic society. Though not as extreme as the one highlighted in lecture, the prison could be technology, the guards are the tracking that results from using technology, and the prisoners are the users of technology. It has become so intertwined with our lives and essential to a lot of day-to-day functions that it is impossible to completely turn off surveillance. If people are aware of that fact, it may really bother them. 

This course has helped me think more critically about the media I consume, like watching television and interacting with social media. It has also helped me become more aware about internet safety and I have changed some settings on my phone to limit access that apps and websites have to my personal information. Academically, I have improved my writing skills thanks to the essay workshops in tutorials and the powerpoint uploaded to D2L about outlining, writing and citations were immensely useful and I have them saved to my computer so I can use them as reference for future classes.